A Denver election law attorney who regularly goes to bat for Democrats filed a complaint Monday alleging campaign finance violations by a group of nonprofits that are backing five unaffiliated legislative candidates in Colorado.

Palisade Town Trustee Thea Chase announced Monday she's running as an unaffiliated candidate for the House District 54 seat represented by Mesa County Republican Yeulin Willett, who isn't seeking reelection. She'll have the backing of Unite Colorado, formerly known as the Centrist Project, an organization that's working to elect independent lawmakers.

The nonprofit formerly known as the Centrist Project, a group working to elect nonpartisans officials nationwide, on Monday unveiled a slate of four unaffiliated Colorado candidates running this year for the Legislature in the opening salvo of its assault on the two major parties' unbroken rule of the state's government. It also announced it's changing its name to Unite America and will call the state-focused organization Unite Colorado.

State Sen. Cheri Jahn will no longer be identified as a Democrat from Wheat Ridge. She announced on Facebook Friday evening that she's leaving the party to become an unaffiliated member of the legislature.

The Centrist Project, a national group working to elect independent candidates to the Colorado Legislature, on Wednesday cheered the re-election of Thornton City Councilman Sam Nizam, one of three municipal candidates the group supported around the state in this week's election.

Despite the fact that more Colorado voters are unaffiliated than belong to any one political party, the state has never elected an independent candidate to the Legislature — a 140-year streak a young organization called the Centrist Project aims to break in next year’s election.

Colorado is open to the idea of voting for candidates who don’t have a party, according to a survey released Thursday by the Centrist Project Institute. The survey indicates 85 percent of Coloradans would consider candidates who don’t belong to a party, and 53 percent don’t like the way Democrats and Republicans are running the […]